Hymie Weiss
Hymie Weiss , actually Henry Earl Wojciechowski (born October 1898 in Poland , † October 11, 1926 in Chicago , Illinois , USA ), was a mobster during the alcohol prohibition and successor to Dean O'Banion in the leadership position of the North Side Gang in Chicago.
Like many other members of the “Nordseite”, Weiss was of Polish descent; so the group was not a purely Irish gang, as it was often published.
Life
Weiss was a friend and subordinate of Dean O'Banion , who controlled the North Side of Chicago. Since he was more intelligent than Deany , he was his advisor; he probably also persuaded him to smuggle alcohol. Weiss was a lean person with sharp features and a piercing look. Like his boss O'Banion, he was irritable, irascible and sometimes merciless, but despite his unpredictability he was in control and mostly kept a cool head. Weiss was supposedly the only one Al Capone is said to have ever really feared.
On November 10, 1924, O'Banion was murdered, whereupon Weiss became the leader of the North Side Gang . Weiss tried to avenge this murder; he was involved in the assassination attempt on Johnny Torrio on January 24, 1925. In addition to the Spike O'Donnell Gang on the South Side , the north side continued to pose a threat to Al Capone's territory. Weiss was also suspected of being the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on Capone on September 20, 1926 in a café.
Capone and Torrio began planning the assassination of Weiss. The attack took place outside Schofield's flower shop ( 738 North State Street ), where O'Banion had previously been killed. A few days earlier, Capone's riflemen had rented two apartments next to and opposite the shop. When Weiss, Patrick Murray, a helper - possibly also Weiss' bodyguard and chauffeur Sam Peller and lawyer William O'Brien - were walking in front of the flower shop on October 11, 1926, they were taken under crossfire from submachine guns and shotguns. Weiss was taken to hospital with ten hits, where he died shortly afterwards; Murray did not survive either.
Capone then said to journalists for the Chicago Daily News and the New York Times in November 1926: "Hymie Weiss is dead because he wanted his head through the wall." Capone and his people could not be proven.
estate
Hymie Weiss was buried in the Mount Carmel Cemetery; After his death, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci and George "Bugs" Moran took over the management of the north side .
On April 24, 1930, the Chicago Crime Commission published a list of 28 “public enemies” of Chicago, headed by Al Capone and ranked sixth on the Weiss, although - unlike all the other listed persons - he was already dead . On the shortened list of the Chicago Tribune it even moved to number 5.
literature
- Rose Keefe: Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot before Al Capone . Cumberland House, 2003, ISBN 1-58182-378-9 .
- Robert Nippoldt : gangsters. The bosses of Chicago . Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 2005, ISBN 3-8067-2941-7 .
Web links
- Hymie Weiss (English)
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Dean O'Banion | Head of the North Side Gang in Chicago 1924 - 1926 |
Vincent Drucci |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Weiss, hymn |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wojciechowski, Henry Earl (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Gangster during Prohibition, rival Al Capone |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 11, 1926 |
| Place of death | Chicago |