(True to their nickname, all met bloody ends related to crime and Capone.) Also interred here is Capone’s hitman “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn (who met his early end in a bowling alley). Carmel in elaborate mausoleums located between Capone and O’Banion. We drove past the mausoleum and noticed the lovely stained glass window inside, but I didn’t make the connection to him, because the outside bears his real last name, D’Ambrosio. But he couldn’t escape the police forever – he was killed in the back of a squad car in April 1927. He was known as a prankster and he made the papers in September 1922 for jumping the gap in the rising Michigan Ave bridge to elude police. There are also what look to be dried palm fronds from Palm Sunday.Īnother of Dean and Hymie’s associates, Vincent “The Schemer” Drucci, is around the corner, buried in a $10,000 silver casket in his own mausoleum. Someone put their artist’s rendering of Hymie’s mugshot in the gate. There are supposedly still bullet holes in the stone of the cathedral from the tommy guns. He was gunned down on the street in front of Holy Name Cathedral (and right across from Dean’s murder spot, Schofield’s Flowers) in the fall of 1926. Hymie was a hothead and he didn’t last long. Wojciechowski) was Dean’s successor as leader of the north side gang. Just a few feet away from O’Banion’s grave is the mausoleum of Hymie Weiss. Thousands attended O’Banion’s funeral. Why is there a quarter on his grave marker? Good question. Gangster funerals in the early 1920s were massive affairs. He was never convicted of anything like that in his lifetime – not even arrested.) First is Dean O’Banion, the leader of the north side gang, who was gunned down in his flower shop in November 1924 after crossing Capone’s predecessor as head of the south side gang, Johnny Torrio. (Allegedly, because he’s only suspected of being involved with their murders or ordering their hits. Oddly enough, just down the road are two of the men that Capone has been rumored to have had killed during his reign. I assume the driver’s intent was to shame me for treating the grave like a tourist destination, but as you can see… I’m not the first. As I stepped out to take a closer look (and snap this photo) a white minivan drove by very slowly toward the exit, and I heard the driver hiss/growl in my direction, “He was a MURDERER.” Chicagoans have strong feelings about the man even after all this time. And if you’re wondering if Google really does have everything covered then wonder no more, because this map exists, people…Īl’s grave is actually right inside the entrance (along with his brothers Ralph and Frank). Carmel Cemetery on the west side of the city is the final resting place of several infamous locals. Al plays a role in Homicide for the Holidays (and a role in my life just by my living in Chicago), so I agreed to stop and have a look. Driving back to Chicago this past week by husband mentioned that Al Capone’s final resting place is just a few hundred feet off of the highway on our route home.
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