Sheldon Gang

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The Sheldon Gang were a gang of alcohol smugglers during the early days of US alcohol prohibition in Chicago in the 1920s.

Her arguments with the competing Saltis-McErlane Gang and the Southside O'Donnell Brothers were known . Member Danny Stanton was on the original list of public enemies of the Chicago Crime Commission conducted from 24 April 1930, the 19th place.

history

The gang was started by Ralph Sheldon as soon as the prohibition on alcohol came into force in late 1919. He was actually a member of the Ragen's Colts . His gang became the main supplier of alcohol to southwest Chicago. In 1923 the violent clashes with other gangs for market share in illegal business began.

By then there had been an uncertain peace between the groups; in particular, the conflict with the Southside O'Donnell Brothers escalated after their leader Edward O'Donnell was seriously injured by Frank McErlane of the Saltis-McErlane gang on September 25, 1925 after a drive-by shoot and left the city.

The Saltis-McErlane gang was actually allied with the Sheldon, but after their success they took action against them as well. The gang lost two of their most important distributors in April 1926, Frank DeLaurentis and John Tucillo .

On August 6, 1926, gang member John "Mitters" Foley was killed by Frank Koncil , as Foley had ventured into the area of ​​the Saltis-McErlane gang.

In the overall context, however, everyone acted in a large group with the Chicago outfit , which itself was in conflict with the North Side Gang . On October 20, John "Dingbat" O'Berta and Joe Saltis organized a meeting at the Sherman Hotel ; In addition to the two, Al Capone , George "Bugs" Moran , Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci , Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik , Ralph Sheldon, William Skidmore , Maxie Eisen , Myles O'Donnell , Jack Zuta and Christian P. "Barney" Bertsche part. First a general armistice was agreed for all existing hostilities. Territories were staked again; there was temporary peace between the gangs.

However, on December 30, 1926, member Hillory Clements was killed by the Saltis-McErlane gang. In retaliation, the Sheldon Gang then killed Charlie Hubacek and Frank Koncil on March 11th . Joe Saltis then preferred to subordinate himself directly to Al Capone , which gave him a high percentage of the gang's profits.

At the end of Prohibition in 1932, the Shelton Gang also fell into the maelstrom of La Cosa Nostra ; At the latest when Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky started the National Crime Syndicate , the gang - already associated with the outfit - was practically absorbed like other gangs. Danny Stanton , for example, became the leader over people who were originally members of the Ragen's Colts .

The most spectacular act of the gang in the 1930s was known only to drop a bomb from an airplane at an ice cream shop in Creve Coeur , Illinois .

Members

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William J. Helmer and Rick Mattix: The Complete Public Enemy Almanac ; P. 283

literature

  • Herbert Asbury: The Gangs of Chicago: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld. Knoff, New York 1940, ISBN 978-1-56025-454-6 .
  • John Binder: The Chicago Outfit. Arcadia Publishing, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-2326-7 .
  • John Kobler: Capone: The Life and Times of Al Capone. Da Capo Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-306-81285-1 .
  • Carl Sifakis: The Mafia Encyclopedia. Da Capo Press, New York 2005, ISBN 0-8160-5694-3 .
  • Scandals of Prohibition Enforcement. Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, Washington, DC 1929.

Web links