Mafia Men - Hoodwinkers, suckers and scams (True Crime) by Gordon Kerr Page A
Authors: Gordon Kerr
Ads: Link
began to take on commercial flying work and, whenever possible, took Butch up with him, allowing the boy to take the controls now and then.
O’Hare divorced Selma in 1927, moving to Chicago while she remained in St. Louis. It was there that he met Al Capone. Capone had made fortunes from Prohibition, controlling the manufacture and distribution of booze in Chicago. He earned additional income from the customary mob rackets of extortion, gambling and prostitution and, effectively, controlled the city.
In those days, if you were anybody, an entrepreneur or businessman trying to succeed in a city, you had to choose a gang with which to be affiliated. Nothing moved in any American city without the say-so of some mobster or other and, of course, they expected their cut of whatever you were making. So, it was a necessary evil. With Capone’s gang the dominant force in late 1920s Chicago, E. J. had little option, as a new entrepreneur in town, but to hook up with Scarface and his boys.
E. J.’s mob ties did not end there, however, and even entered his personal life. He fell for a secretary, Ursula Granata, who happened to be the sister of a State Representative with mob ties. They were engaged for seven years as O’Hare, a good Catholic boy wanted to be married in church and as a divorcee, was not entitled to do so. He even made a request to the Pope for Papal dispensation for the wedding.
When he arrived in Chicago, O’Hare was already a wealthy man, but his involvement with Capone’s affairs added hugely to his fortune. He was personally responsible for keeping Capone out of jail and, in that, he was very successful. Capone showed his appreciation by paying E. J. very well for his skills. So well, in fact, that O’Hare was able to own a house that took up an entire Chicago city block. He had servants and every convenience a rich lawyer could desire, including a fence around the whole building, just in case.
In 1930, however, all that changed. Whether he did it because he wanted the favour of getting his son into Annapolis or simply because he was tired of dealing with mob business, we do not know. It may even have been for purely selfish reasons. Perhaps he realised that there was a danger that he would go to jail one day. Whatever the reason, he asked a St. Louis Journal journalist, John Rogers, to set up a meeting with the IRS (the Internal Revenue Service). Rogers contacted an IRS government inspector, Frank J. Wilson, a man who would go on to be Chief of the US Secret Service from 1937 to 1946. Eliott Ness and his ‘Untouchables’, a team of agents who were selected because they were thought to be incorruptible, had been raiding Capone’s distilleries and warehouses, destroying his bootlegging business and crippling his earning capacity. Meanwhile, the IRS were working on Capone’s finances with the objective of convicting him of tax evasion and locking him up.
E. J. and Wilson had lunch and E. J. agreed to work undercover for the Revenue. As Wilson said in a 1947 interview: ‘On the inside of the gang I had one of the best undercover men I have ever known: Eddie O’Hare.’ The key to the arrest and conviction of Capone was a bookkeeper who knew everything about Capone’s affairs, down to the last detail. It was O’Hare who led Frank Wilson to him and the bookkeeper would be the key witness in Capone’s 1931 trial.
O’Hare additionally helped Wilson and his team crack the code that Capone’s bookkeepers used in their ledgers at Scarface’s illegal gambling dens throughout the 1920s.
Then, on the opening day of the trial, when he learned that the jury selected for the trial had been fixed by Capone’s men, O’Hare informed Judge Wilkerson who famously ordered the jury to be swapped with a jury hearing another trial in another part of the building.
Al Capone’s goose was well and truly cooked and he was found guilty of five of the twenty-two charges brought against him. That was enough, however, to
O’Hare divorced Selma in 1927, moving to Chicago while she remained in St. Louis. It was there that he met Al Capone. Capone had made fortunes from Prohibition, controlling the manufacture and distribution of booze in Chicago. He earned additional income from the customary mob rackets of extortion, gambling and prostitution and, effectively, controlled the city.
In those days, if you were anybody, an entrepreneur or businessman trying to succeed in a city, you had to choose a gang with which to be affiliated. Nothing moved in any American city without the say-so of some mobster or other and, of course, they expected their cut of whatever you were making. So, it was a necessary evil. With Capone’s gang the dominant force in late 1920s Chicago, E. J. had little option, as a new entrepreneur in town, but to hook up with Scarface and his boys.
E. J.’s mob ties did not end there, however, and even entered his personal life. He fell for a secretary, Ursula Granata, who happened to be the sister of a State Representative with mob ties. They were engaged for seven years as O’Hare, a good Catholic boy wanted to be married in church and as a divorcee, was not entitled to do so. He even made a request to the Pope for Papal dispensation for the wedding.
When he arrived in Chicago, O’Hare was already a wealthy man, but his involvement with Capone’s affairs added hugely to his fortune. He was personally responsible for keeping Capone out of jail and, in that, he was very successful. Capone showed his appreciation by paying E. J. very well for his skills. So well, in fact, that O’Hare was able to own a house that took up an entire Chicago city block. He had servants and every convenience a rich lawyer could desire, including a fence around the whole building, just in case.
In 1930, however, all that changed. Whether he did it because he wanted the favour of getting his son into Annapolis or simply because he was tired of dealing with mob business, we do not know. It may even have been for purely selfish reasons. Perhaps he realised that there was a danger that he would go to jail one day. Whatever the reason, he asked a St. Louis Journal journalist, John Rogers, to set up a meeting with the IRS (the Internal Revenue Service). Rogers contacted an IRS government inspector, Frank J. Wilson, a man who would go on to be Chief of the US Secret Service from 1937 to 1946. Eliott Ness and his ‘Untouchables’, a team of agents who were selected because they were thought to be incorruptible, had been raiding Capone’s distilleries and warehouses, destroying his bootlegging business and crippling his earning capacity. Meanwhile, the IRS were working on Capone’s finances with the objective of convicting him of tax evasion and locking him up.
E. J. and Wilson had lunch and E. J. agreed to work undercover for the Revenue. As Wilson said in a 1947 interview: ‘On the inside of the gang I had one of the best undercover men I have ever known: Eddie O’Hare.’ The key to the arrest and conviction of Capone was a bookkeeper who knew everything about Capone’s affairs, down to the last detail. It was O’Hare who led Frank Wilson to him and the bookkeeper would be the key witness in Capone’s 1931 trial.
O’Hare additionally helped Wilson and his team crack the code that Capone’s bookkeepers used in their ledgers at Scarface’s illegal gambling dens throughout the 1920s.
Then, on the opening day of the trial, when he learned that the jury selected for the trial had been fixed by Capone’s men, O’Hare informed Judge Wilkerson who famously ordered the jury to be swapped with a jury hearing another trial in another part of the building.
Al Capone’s goose was well and truly cooked and he was found guilty of five of the twenty-two charges brought against him. That was enough, however, to
Similar Books
