Hymie Weiss
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Earl "Hymie" Weiss (January 25, 1897 - October 11, 1926) was a Chicago mobster who became a leader of the Prohibition-era North Side Gang and a bitter rival of Al Capone.
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[edit] Early years
Born Earl Wojciechowski in Poland, he emigrated to the United States with his family. After settling in the United States, the family changed its last name to "Weiss". Weiss would gain the nickname "Hymie" later in his career. He was Catholic, despite the Jewish-sounding moniker[1]. As a teenager, Weiss soon became a petty criminal and ultimately befriended an Irish-American teen Dean O'Banion. With Weiss and George "Bugs" Moran, O'Banion established the North Side Gang, a criminal organization that would eventually control bootlegging and other illicit activities in the northern part of Chicago.
[edit] Rivalry with Chicago Outfit
The $100 million a year Prohibition-fed criminal empire created by Johnny Torrio and Al Capone in Chicago between 1920 to 1931 was not without its serious challengers. The biggest threat to this massive organization was not from arrest or prosecution by police, the district attorney, or the city's elected officials (each of whom had numerous members on the Torrio-Capone payroll). Capone and Torrio faced their greatest challenge from a single rival: the Northsiders gang.
On January 24, 1925, Torrio was gunned down in retaliation for the death of O’Banion; Torrio and Capone had ordered his murder. Torrio recovered and fled to Italy. The North Side gang, now under Weiss, tried to kill Capone a dozen times, including once on September 20, 1926, when they "poured into [the Hawthorne Inn] more than a thousand bullets." However, Capone was having lunch next door and escaped injury. However, this act did scare Capone to a truce, an attempt which failed. Weiss and Moran also killed Capone's bodyguard and took out Genna leader Angelo and possibly Genna member Tony. Weiss was killed by Capone's men twenty days after the Hawthorne attack.
[edit] References
2. Asbury, Herbert. Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1986. 353-58.
3. Keefe, Rose. Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot before Al Capone. Cumberland House, 336 pgs, ISBN 1-58182-378-9
He was known as the only man the Al Capone was ever afraid of.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Dean O'Banion |
North Side Gang Boss 1924-1926 |
Succeeded by Vincent Drucci |
