Ragen's Colts

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Ragen's Colts were a predominantly Catholic Irish ("South Side Irish") gang in Chicago , which dominated the Chicago underworld in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It then came under the control of the Chicago Outfit under Al Capone from around 1932 .

history

Originally the members had come together as Ragen's Athletic and Benevolent Association , a sports and charity association, which was led by Frank Ragen and his brother James M. Ragen . The Democratic Party of Chicago happily hired the 'sports fans' to intervene in the election campaigns. B. did Tammany Hall in New York City with the gangs there.

The group expanded rapidly and its membership grew from 160 (1902) to around 2000 in 1908. They propagated their motto "Hit me and you hit 2000" (English: "Hit me and you hit 2000") to intimidate their opponents. By the end of the decade, dozens of politicians owed their political careers to the Ragen's Colts , who had also provided financial support. Many election officials, police chiefs, treasurers, etc. were obliged to Frank Ragen and he was even appointed police chief of Chicago.

The group continued to criminalize itself, however, and in the 1920s a hard core of professional criminals emerged, such as William "Gunner" McPadden , Harry Madigan , Joseph "Dynamite" Brooks , Danny McFall , Hughey "Stubby" McGovern , Davy "Yiddles" Miller and Ralph Sheldon , who started the Sheldon Gang in 1920 .

The years after World War I also led to social tensions in Chicago; War returnees, emigrants and ethnic groups competed for jobs and social status. Numerous riots rocked the American cities and in 1919 the Americans of Afro-American descent came into conflict with their neighbors on the south side of Chicago ("Chicago Race Riot of 1919"). The Ragen's Colts were accused of targeting raids in the “Black Belt” of Chicago, in which numerous houses were devastated and people were killed. The African Americans hit back and a neighborhood war broke out across the district. Afterwards, 34 deaths (14 blacks, 20 white) were officially registered; more than 1,000 people were injured.

But the gang also messed with the Ku Klux Klan because it represented anti-Catholic positions. In September 1921, 3,000 eyewitnesses saw her hang a doll dressed like a typical member of the Ku Klux Klan in the Stockyards District .

During the alcohol prohibition , the gang also got into the profitable alcohol smuggling. However, member Ralph Sheldon formed his own group and began raiding other groups' shipments. There was a conflict with the Chicago outfit under Al Capone . However, an agreement was finally reached and Al Capone hired many Ragen's Colts as hired killers. When the National Crime Syndicate was formed in 1932/33 after the war in Castellammare , the gang was integrated into this system of La Cosa Nostra and many members of the gang became well-known leaders.

In the 1920s, however, members split off from the group who were apparently more interested in sports and organized themselves as Chicago Maroons to participate as a football team in the National Football League . This team was one of the two sources for the later Chicago Cardinals .

literature

  • Robert J. Kelly: Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States . Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
  • Carl Sifakis:
  1. The Mafia Encyclopedia . New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
  2. The Encyclopedia of American Crime . New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0
  • William M. Tuttle Jr .: Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919 University of Illinois Prses, 1996