O'Connor's Gunners

Last updated April 28, 2019

O'Connor's Gunners was a short lived strike force established by the Chicago Police Department to combat organized crime in Prohibition-era Chicago.

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind the New York City Police Department. It has approximately 13,500 officers and over 1,925 other employees. Tracing its roots back to the year of 1835, the Chicago Police Department is one of the oldest modern police forces in the world. The United States Department of Justice has criticized the department for its poor training, lack of oversight and routine use of excessive force.

In 1927, at the height of the gang war between the Chicago Outfit and the North Side Gang, newly appointed Chief of Detectives William O'Connor convinced Mayor William "Big Bill" Thompson to authorize the creation of an elite police unit that would be able to match the firepower of the warring gangsters. Its handpicked volunteers, many former World War I veterans, would be armed with machine guns and armored cars.

Chicago Outfit An Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Outfit is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, which dates back to the 1910s. It is part of the American Mafia originating in Chicago's South Side.

The North Side Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was the dominant Irish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early-to-late 1920s and principal rival of the Johnny Torrio–Al Capone organization, later known as the Chicago Outfit.

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

At its inception, O'Connor issued a general order to his men stating:

"Men, the war is on. We've got to show that society and the police department, and not a bunch of dirty rats, are running this town. It is the wish of the people of Chicago that you hunt down these criminals and kill them without mercy. Your cars are equipped with machine guns and you will meet the enemies of society on equal terms. See to it they don't have you pushing up daisies. Make them push up daisies. Shoot first and shoot to kill. If you kill a notorious feudist, you will get a handsome reward and win promotion. If you meet a car containing bandits, pursue them and fire. When I arrive on the scene, my hopes will be fulfilled if you have shot off the top of their car and killed every criminal inside it."

Despite O'Connor's bravado, the policy of a "shoot first, ask questions later" policy raised the concern of both the public and the underworld. Police officials, as well, feared the deaths of innocent bystanders in crossfire in the massive gun battles predicted. Gangster Al Capone was said to have referred to the group as "...another bunch of Irish bastards with guns."

Alphonse Gabriel Capone, sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit. His seven-year reign as crime boss ended when he was 33.

However, the squad failed to make a significant impact as poor intelligence and possible corruption within the police force itself would often have O'Connor's Gunners arriving at crime scenes well after the crime had taken place.

Related Research Articles

Adelard Cunin, better known as George "Bugs" Moran, was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster. He was incarcerated three times before his 21st birthday. Seven members of his gang were gunned down in a warehouse in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of February 14, 1929, supposedly on the orders of his rival Al Capone.

Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria was an early Italian-American Mafia boss in New York City. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York City Mafia's Five Families, from 1922 to 1931. He waged a bloody war to take over the criminal activities in New York City, gaining considerable power for himself. He was killed in 1931 in a hit ordered by his own lieutenant, Charles "Lucky" Luciano.

Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll was an Irish-American mob hitman in the 1920s and early 1930s in New York City. Coll gained notoriety for the alleged accidental killing of a young child during a mob kidnap attempt.

Vincent Drucci, also known as "The Schemer", was a Sicilian-American mobster during Chicago's Prohibition era who was a member of the North Side Gang, Al Capone's best known rivals. A friend of Dean O'Banion, Drucci succeeded him by becoming co-leader. He is the only US organized crime boss to have been killed by a policeman.

<i>City on Fire</i> (1987 film) 1987 film by Ringo Lam

City on Fire is a 1987 Hong Kong crime film produced and directed by Ringo Lam and starring Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee, and Sun Yueh. Following A Better Tomorrow (1986), it helped establish Chow's popularity as an action star in Asia, and, to a lesser degree, North America.

Chicago, Illinois, has a long history of organized crime and was famously home to the American mafia figure Al Capone. This article contains a list of major events related to organized crime.

Frank Gusenberg was an American contract killer and a victim of the Saint Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago, Illinois.

Last Man Standing is a 1996 American gangster-action film written and directed by Walter Hill and starring Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, and Bruce Dern. It is a credited remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo.

The Irish Mob is an organized crime group in the United States, in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish American street gangs—depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1928 book The Gangs of New York—the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.S. cities, especially on the east coast, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle, published in 1970, was the debut novel of George V. Higgins, then an Assistant United States Attorney in Boston. The novel is a realistic depiction of the Irish-American underworld in Boston. Its central character is the title character Eddie Coyle, a small-time criminal and informant.

Frank McErlane (1894–1932) was a Prohibition-era Irish American gangster. He led the Saltis-McErlane Gang, allied with the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone Gang, against rival bootleggers, the Southside O'Donnell Brothers. He is credited with introducing the Thompson submachine gun to Chicago's underworld. The Illinois Crime Survey called him, "the most brutal gunman who ever pulled a trigger in Chicago."

Myles O'Donnell was an Irish American bootlegger and mobster during the Roaring Twenties in Chicago during Prohibition. He was most famous for being the founder of the West-side O'Donnell Mob aka the Westside O'Donnells or West-side gang.

<i>The Threat</i> (1949 film) 1949 film by Felix E. Feist

The Threat is a 1949 American film noir directed by Felix E. Feist and starring Michael O'Shea, Virginia Grey, and Charles McGraw.

The Milaflores Massacre is the name given to the shooting of three gangsters in retaliation for two murders and a kidnapping in the winter of 1927 in Detroit, Michigan. The crime was suspected to have been perpetrated by the Purple Gang.

The era of American film production from the early sound era to the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934 is denoted as Pre-Code Hollywood. The era contained violence and crime in pictures which would not be seen again until decades later. Although the Hays office had specifically recommended removing profanity, the drug trade, and prostitution from pictures, it had never officially recommended against depictions of violence in any form in the 1920s. State censor boards, however, created their own guidelines, and New York in particular developed a list of violent material which had to be removed for a picture to be shown in the state. Two main types of crime films were released during the period: the gangster picture and the prison film.

Gangster Squad is a 2013 American action crime thriller film directed by Ruben Fleischer, written by Will Beall and starring Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña and Sean Penn. Set in 1949, the plot is a fictionalized account of the LAPD officers and detectives called the "Gangster Squad" who attempt to keep Los Angeles safe from Mickey Cohen and his gang.

L'altra faccia del padrino is a 1973 Italian parody film directed by Franco Prosperi. It spoofs Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather.

The first generation "Masters of Destruction" or the younger generation of "Menace of Destruction" or M.O.D. for short, is a Hmong street gang active in California and the Midwestern United States. They have been known for trafficking illegal drugs and weapons. The gang can also be identified with its number affiliation 301.

Michael Odisho is an Assyrian-Australian underworld figure and former member of the DLASTHR and Brothers for Life (BFL) organized crime gangs which operated in Sydney, Australia. He was featured on a short ABC Television documentary 7.30 where he gave access into his former gang life. In 2016 He was found guilty of a shooting involvement where he was sentenced up to 5 years in prison.

References

Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3

Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers. As of 2009 it had additional offices in New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Emeryville, California. Da Capo Press had net sales of over $2.5 million in 2008.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

This Chicago-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.