Peter Gusenberg

Peter Gusenberg

Peter Gusenberg (1888-February 14, 1929), and his brother Frank were prominent members of Chicago's North Side Gang, the main rival to the Chicago Outfit. Peter Gusenberg participated in an infamous attack on Al Capone during a vicious gang war.

Early life

Peter Gusenberg and his brother Frank Gusenberg grew up tough on the North Side of Chicago. After graduating from petty crime into more serious offenses, the Gusenberg brothers teamed up with Dean O'Banion, Earl "Hymie" Weiss, George "Bugs" Moran and other members of the North Side Gang. This gang would dominate bootlegging and other criminal activities in the northern part of Chicago throughout the 1920's.

Prison time

In the early 1920's, Peter Gusenberg was sent away to the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth on a mail robbery conviction. While he was in prison, the North Side Gang became embroiled in a vicious gang war with the rival Chicago Outfit, headed first by Johnny Torrio and then Al Capone. During this warfare, Outfit gunmen had murdered North Side leader O'Banion in his florist shop. When Peter Gusenberg was released from prison in 1926, he rejoined the North Side Gang, now led by Hymie Weiss, in its war against the Outfit.

Gang war

On September 20, 1926, Peter Gusenberg participated in the infamous drive-by shooting on the Hawthorne Hotel, Capone's Cicero, Illinois headquarters. The North Siders riddled the hotel with thousands of bullets. According to many accounts, the second to last car stopped in front of the hotel restaurant where Capone was cowering and Peter Gusenberg emerged, clad in a khaki Army shirt, brown overalls, and carrying a Thompson submachine gun fitted with a 100-round capacity drum. Kneeling in front of the doorway, Gusenberg emptied the entire drum into the restaurant, and then casually strolled back to his car, which then sped off to safety. The attack worked. Capone was in fact terrified and offered a truce between the two gangs. But the truce was shortlived and it was back to open warfare.

As the gang war continued, the North Side Gang started to weaken. Three weeks after the Hawthorne Hotel attack, Hymie Weiss was murdered by a Capone hit squad. Moran now took over the gang. The North Siders especially wanted to kill Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn, as he was rumored to have killed Weiss. On at least two occasions, the Gusenberg brothers tried to kill McGurn. Despite wounding him several times, McGurn survived theses attempts on his life.

By late 1928, Moran struck an alliance with Capone rival Joe Aiello. Aiello and the Gusenberg brothers first killed Antonio Lombardo and then Pasqualino "Patsy" Lolordo, two successive presidents of the Unione Siciliane and both Capone allies. It was these murders that motivated Capone to eliminate Moran and the North Side Gang in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

t. Valentine's Day Massacre

On February 14, 1929, the upper echelon of the North Side gang, including Peter Gusenberg, gathered in their main booze garage, the S.M.C. Cartage Company at 2122 N. Clark Street in Chicago. Also there were Frank Gusenberg, Albert Weinshank, Adam Heyer, James Clark, John May, and Dr. Reinhardt Schwimmer (a friend of a gang member). The usual story is that the North Siders were waiting for a shipment of hijacked whiskey from Detroit (a ploy devised by Capone). However, this story has been disputed.

Two men in police uniforms entered the garage and lined Peter Gusenberg and the other North Siders up against the north wall. At this point, two men in civilian clothing came in with submachine guns. The four gunmen then opened fire with submachine guns and shotguns, killing all seven men, in what would become known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Peter Gusenberg died instantly.

Although the killers (widely believed to be former members Egan's Rats, a St. Louis gang), wiped out most of the North Side Gang, they missed their prime target, Moran. Moran was either late arriving at the garage or spotted the gunmen before entering the garage and kept on walking.

In popular culture

Peter Gusenberg would be portrayed in two movies about the Prohibition era;
*In Roger Corman's "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" (1967), Gusenberg was played by George Segal.
*In Steve Carver's "Capone" (1975), Gusenberg was played by Martin Kove.

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2656 Peter Gusenberg] at Find-A-Grave
* [http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id29.htm My Al Capone Museum: St. valentine's Day Massacre victim's statistics]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Saint Valentine's Day massacre — The Saint Valentine s Day massacre is the name given to the murder of seven people as part of a Prohibition Era conflict between two powerful criminal gangs in Chicago, Illinois, in the winter of 1929: the South Side Italian gang led by Al Capone …   Wikipedia

  • Massacre de la Saint-Valentin (Chicago) — 41°55′15″N 87°38′16″O / 41.92083, 87.63778 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • North Side Gang — The North Side family Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was the dominant Irish American criminal organization (although a large number of Polish Americans were members as well) within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early to… …   Wikipedia

  • Chicago Outfit — Das Chicago Outfit bezeichnet die US amerikanische Sektion der Mafia in Chicago. Es ist die einzige selbstständige Organisation außerhalb von New York City, die nicht von den dortigen fünf Familien (Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • St.-Valentins-Massaker — Das Valentinstag Massaker bezeichnet die Erschießung von sieben Personen am 14. Februar 1929, die Teil eines Bandenkrieges in Chicago war. Es wurden sieben Mitglieder bzw. Assoziierte aus dem Umfeld der North Side Gang erschossen. Obwohl keine… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Valentinstag-Massaker — Das Valentinstag Massaker bezeichnet die Erschießung von sieben Personen am 14. Februar 1929, die Teil eines Bandenkrieges in Chicago war. Es wurden sieben Mitglieder bzw. Assoziierte aus dem Umfeld der North Side Gang erschossen. Obwohl keine… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Valentinstagmassaker — Das Valentinstag Massaker bezeichnet die Erschießung von sieben Personen am 14. Februar 1929, die Teil eines Bandenkrieges in Chicago war. Es wurden sieben Mitglieder bzw. Assoziierte aus dem Umfeld der North Side Gang erschossen. Obwohl keine… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Joe Aiello — Infobox Person name=Giuseppe Aiello caption= birth date=1891 birth place=Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Italy death date=death date|1930|10|23|mf=y death place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S.Giuseppe Joe Aiello (1891 October 23, 1930) was a Chicago… …   Wikipedia

  • Giuseppe Aiello — Giuseppe Aiello, auch Joe(y) Aiello (* 1891 in Castellammare del Golfo, Sizilien; † 23. Oktober 1930 in Chicago), war ein italo amerikanischer Mobster in Chicago und Präsident der Unione Siciliana. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 1.1 Beginn des… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Joe Aiello — Giuseppe Aiello Giuseppe Aiello, auch Joe(y) Aiello (* 1891 in Castellammare del Golfo, Sizilien; † 23. Oktober 1930 in Chicago), war ein italo amerikanischer Mobster in Chicago und Präsident der Unione Siciliana. Inh …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”