Ah'm up hear on the Ill'noies River doin' sum horse tradin'. Ah've ben abl to trade them thar Riverboat gam'lers out of a Porsh and one of them BMW's so far.

It jest amazin' whut them fancy, duded-up, slick talkin' gam'lers comin down hear frum Chicago will pay fer some a' me and Cuzzin' Buggs' "white lightnin'".

'Ah also sold sev'ril cases to them tourists a'gamlin on the Reeverboat too. Well! With all this hear cash--not ta menshun them too new cars, I'se jest ducided to take me a little road trip to pay muh respects to Cuzzin Alphonse and sum other rel'teves up thar in Mount Carmel Cemetery jest outside'n Shucogo.

Ah tuk along that new-fangled camree that 'ah traded a guy out uuv fer a fifth of Buggs' "mudic'nle liquid so 'ah coud git sum pi'tures of Alphone's final restin' place fer all yu friends back home.

That thar Mount Carmel is one big cemetery. That guy who helped me find Cuzzin Alphonse tol me Thar are ovre 226,275 beried thar. It's a Cath'lik restin' place for sum uuv the cities' finest Etalyun citizuns, includin' Cuzzin' Alphonse You'ins probly remember that horible rev'noor, Elliot Ness, who fin'le sent Cuzzin' Al off to jail fer tax evashun.

Well, 'ah bet Mr. Ness ain't gut haf as nice a restin' place as Cuzzin Alfonse. Hear's a cuple 'uh pi'turs 'ah tak'en.

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Purty nice, don'cha thank?

Sum of Cuzzin' Al'phonse's best friens and also sum'uh his'n wurst en'mees is also bereed thar. Ya'know, Cuzzin' Alphonse run the Southside 'uh Shucogo back thar in the 20's and Hymie Weiss run the North side. Now, them too was bitter en'mees. But thar both out there tuh'gether now at Mount Carmel, tho NOT too close tuh'gether. Why, ah suhprised ther gosts ain't a gunnin' it out rat now!!

'Ah picked up a bro'shur at that fancy hotel whar 'ah was a stayin' cuz 'ah wanted tuh be shore 'ah got this story rat. So, hear's thu hole story of Cuzzin Alphonse and Hymie Weiss


[edit] Early years
Henry Earl Weiss was born in Chicago as Henryk Wojciechowski to a Polish immigrant 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. 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 North Side Gang's fiercest rivals were the South Side Gang, later to become the Chicago Outfit, led by John "The Fox" Torrio and Al Capone. The disputes between the two gangs eventually led to O'Banion's 1924 assassination by Torrio and a full gang war. With O'Banion's death, Weiss assumed leadership of the gang.

As the gang war raged on, Weiss proved himself one of Torrio and Capone's most formidable foes; it was in fact rumored that Weiss was the only man Capone was truly afraid of. Weiss was said to have suffered from arterial cancer, which often gave him blinding headaches, dizziness, and fainting spells. Because of his illness, Weiss often said he didn't expect to live to an old age. This fatalism may have explained his fearlessness in fighting the Outfit.

Unlike his rivals on the South Side, Weiss and his North Side compatriots frequently participated in violence themselves, rather than using low ranking foot soldiers. On January 12, 1925, Weiss personally tried to kill Capone, but failed. On January 24, Weiss and Moran attacked and severely wounded John "The Fox" Torrio outside his South Side residence. Torrio survived the attack only because the two gunmen ran out of ammunition. Severely shaken, Torrio decided to hand control of the Outfit to Capone and leave Chicago. On September 20, Weiss and Moran led a cavalcade of sedans past the Hawthorne Hotel, Capone's headquarters in Cicero, Illinois. The North Siders raked the entire block with automatic fire in an attempt to wipe out Capone, effectively ripping the hotel to shreds. One of the cars stopped, and a man in brown overalls (said to be Peter Gusenberg) got out and emptied his Thompson submachine gun into the cafe where Capone was cowering. After this astounding attack, Capone was terrified and requested a sit-down with the North Side Gang. But the peace talks failed and the gang war continued


[edit] Assassination
On October 11, 1926, Weiss was crossing State Street to the North Side Gang headquarters with four of his men. Two gunmen waiting for him from a nearby second-story apartment opened the window and sprayed them with buckshot and submachine gun bullets. Hymie Weiss and one of his men were killed, and the others wounded.


[edit] Aftermath
Weiss was buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Hillside, Illinois. The 29-year old gang boss reputedly left an estate of $1.3 million dollars.

Bullets from the fatal attack on Weiss struck and slightly damaged the cornerstone of the Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago, which was directly across State Street from the North Side headquarters. Though most of the damage was later repaired and the bullet holes covered, one bullet hole stills remains in the church facade today.

Warfare between the North Side Gang and the Chicago Outfit would continue for several more years, culminating in the killing of seven North Side members and associates in the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The war reached a stalemate at this point, and Moran and Capone remained in command through the end of prohibition. The Outfit would, however, eventually assume control of all the North Side operations.

Well, I got sum more ta tell bout them early days, but ah' gotta' be gittin' rat now. Me 'n mah little red impala isheadin' back to MyBloggers Spoon fer anutherr load uuv Bugg's bru.

Anuther tale uuv me and the red mpala soon.

[edit] References
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

[edit] External links
www.hymieweiss.com
Preceded by
Dean O'Banion North Side Gang Boss
1924-1926 Succeeded by
Vincent Drucci

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymie_Weiss"
Categories: 1897 births | 1926 deaths | Mob bosses | Murdered mobsters | People from Chicago | Polish-American mobsters | Polish-Americans | North Side Gang | Prohibition-era gangsters