Chicago Architecture: Histories, Revisions, Alternatives (Chicago Architecture and Urbanism)
Chicago is synonymous with modern architecture—the birthplace of the skyscraper, the cradle of twentieth-century American design, and the home of enduring works by such iconic figures as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright. However, in Chicago Architecture, Charles Waldheim and Katerina Rüedi Ray revise and offer alternatives to the archetypal story of modern architecture in Chicago.
An esteemed group of contributors here show that the mythic status of Chicago architecture
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Chicago Assassin: The Life and Legend of “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn and the Chicago Beer Wars of the Roaring Twenties
The city of Chicago led the nation when it came to gangland violence during the Prohibition era. As a result, many infamous, unforgettable personalities became a part of America’s criminal history. Chicago Assassin is the story of “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn, one of the people responsible for putting much of the roar into the Roaring Twenties. McGurn was born in Liscata, Sicily, on February 15, 1905, as Vincenzo Antonio Gibaldi. His family immigrated to Chicago in 1906, and he grew up in the city
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Surprised me with its excellence,
Vincenzo Gibaldi was born in Licata, Sicily to loving parents who wanted a better life for him, and brought him to the United States. However, after first his father and then his loving step-father were killed in gangland hits, something in Vincenzo snapped. Taking on his boxing name of Jack McGurn as his nom de guerre, he became an assassin par excellence, and rose to be one of Al Capone’s lieutenants. However, after rising to dizzying heights of fame and wealth, Jack McGurn fell far and fell fast, until he too became just another victim of Chicago violence. This is the story of the brutal rise and brutal fall of one of America’s top gunmen – “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn.
Overall, I did not know what to expect when I picked this book up. Having grown up in Chicago, I had heard about “Scarface” Al Capone, “Bugs” Moran, “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn, “Hymie” Weiss, and all of the other famous mobsters. But, I must say that this book surprised me with its excellence. The author does a great job of bringing that era to life, and really letting you get a good understanding of the people involved and what they did.
There’s never a dull moment in this book, as the author eschewed the temptation to pad out the narrative, making a great medium-sized book into a tedious big book. Plus, I liked the many black-and-white pictures included, and the final chapter that answers the question, “Whatever became of…?” This is a great book on Jack McGurn, and Chicago in the Roaring Twenties. If you want to read the best book on this subject, then take it from this Chicagoan, and get Chicago Assassin by Richard J. Shmelter.
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|Understanding an American Gangster,
What is it about the gangsters of the Prohibition Era that continues to fascinate Americans?
Jack McGurn (a name he adopted when he began a boxing career; his real name was Vincenzo Gibaldi, born in Sicily in 1902) achieved prominence in the “beer wars” of Chicago’s prohibition as the top enforcement man for Al Capone. He is widely credited, erroneously according to Shmelter and other recent writers, with being the mastermind of the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. But he was an efficient and effective killer, warrior in the beers wars.
What is the nature of a man who would so easily take human life?
Schmelter takes us to McGurn’s childhood in New York where his father was gunned down by New York gangsters in a case of mistaken identity. The New York Police Department was unable to (or didn’t care to) bring to justice the killers. Italian immigrants lived on the frontier, where law and order had not yet come. His mother remarried, the family moved to Chicago where his father was a grocer who agreed to sell sugar to members of the Genna gang for use in making alcohol. When he said he would not refuse to sell sugar to all comers, specifically to competitors of the Gennas, he was shot down on the way to work one morning. Again, the Police did not bring the killers to justice.
McGurn, age 19, returned to New York, killed his father’s killers and began planning on how to avenge his stepfather as well. The best way to do that he concluded, was to align with the opposition to the Gennas, the Torrio-Capone gang. And thus his career began.
Schmelter takes us through the beer wars, in which it is hard to see that one side had more moral claims than another. McGurn killed out-of-towners imported to murder Capone. He participated in other murders of rivals to his boss. Shmelter gives us the picture of a competent, loyal, if brash and cocky, man fitting into the lawless world of the gang subculture. By looking at McGurn, we also see the culture as it was.
St Valentine’s Day proved a pyrrhic viceroy for Capone and the beginning of the end for McGurn, even though in this crime he had no involvement. It brought the full force of the government down on Capone and when he was sentenced to jail for tax evasion, his successor fired the brash Jack McGurn, who was left outside the Outfit, but well off with investments made during his good years.
The final years of McGurn are the years in which the comet descends. His properties became worthless under the onslaught of the national depression. He and his wife gradually descended from relative affluence to poverty when he was reduced to hawking betting sheets at the track. Finally, his efforts to gain reentry to the Outfit were rejected and his threat that he could talk proved suicidal.
One can look upon the body of Jack McGurn, bleeding out his life on the floor of a bowling alley, and feel that poetic justice was served. Shmelter also makes it possible to feel empathy for a man who saw his life disintegrate until death was only the conclusion.
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|Excellent primer on McGurn,
Mr. Schmelter does an admirable job at bringing out the essence of McGurn in this fine book. He works with the history given and what newspapers spewed out at the time. There was no proof as to whom or how many men McGurn exactly killed. Finding that out is next to impossible. Also for any other gangster at that time. Their notches in their guns tended to be padded or somewhat overblown. McGurn was accused of almost every murder in gangland Chicago. Some other McGurn myths in history include McGurn being shot in a telephone booth or McGurn placing a buffalo nickel in his victim’s hand.
This book is a excellent primer for those who do not know who McGurn was. Mr. Schmelter is on the right track and the effort was A 1.
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