Dion O’Banion

Biography/Early Life

Charles Dean O’Banion was born on July 8, 1892, and was the youngest of three children in the O’Banion house. He was born in Maroa, Illinois, and lived there until he was about nine years old when Mrs. O’Banion passed away suddenly. O’Banion moved to a neighborhood in Northside Chicago named Kilgubbin, better known as “Little Hell”. It was a predominantly Irish neighborhood and was well known for its high crime levels. As he grew up O’Banion sang in the church choir at the families local church, but that is not where the youngster wanted to be. The street life had already caught O’Banion’s eye and he was hooked. He and some of his friends from the neighborhood became “sluggers” who were enforcers for newspaper companies and would beat news stand owners who did not sell the newspaper of the company they worked for. When O’Banion got a little older he started working at a resturant where he would sing for the crowds of people while his friends would pick pocket customers and spike thier drinks so that could rob them again when they were about to leave the resturant.

Prohibition and the Chicago Bootlegging Operation

As America became engulfed in the new law of prohibiton of 1920 which limited the production and sale of liquor people started to try and find a way to get around the system and make some money in the process. “Dion” O’Banion, as he became known in the news is credited with having commited the first liquor hijaking in Chicago where he knocked out the driver, stole the whiskey and other liquor in the truck, and resold it to the saloon owners. He then went on to construct the first bootlegging ring in Chicago using supliers and drivers from Canada as a way to import the liquor. O’Banion’s reputation grew along with the succsess of the bootlegging ring and he rose up to become the leader of the North Side Gang which controlled the north side of Chicago and the Gold Coast, a rich area on Lake Michigan.

O’Banion was in control of the entire Chicago bootlegging operation and was rolling success, and was operating without any competion. That was until the south side Italian mob of Chicago wanted in on the action and profits. O’Banion met with the leader of the Chicago Outfit, “Papa” Johnny Torrio, and his liutenent Al Capone. The two sides agreed to peace in the city and coperation, O’Banion would maintain control of the north side of Chicago and the Gold Coast and on top was given a percentage of a casino in the south side of Chicago named The Ship, and would essentially allow the south side to be in the bootlegging ring but not sell on each others turf. The two parties lived peacefully for several years until south siders were reportedly selling in northern territory. O’Banion went to Torrio to complain but he did nothing and tensions began to rise in Chicago. The final straw between O’Banion and Torrio was the Seiben Brewery Raid in May of 1924. O’Banion had learned that the police were going to raid the Seiben Brewery, where he and Torrio had massive stakes in. Upon hearing this news, O’Banion went to Torrio to sell his share and hav eno attachments to the brewery. Torrio agreed, and when the police raided the place and arrested everyone O’Banion got off easy, unlike Torrio who had to pay bail for himself and many other associates and face court. He also asked O’Banion for the money back that he lent him but he refused, producing further tension.

Death and Rememberance

The tensions in Chicago never cooled off and on November 10, 1924 O’Banion was shot by three assins that were sent by south side affiliate Anglo Genna. Genna set up the attack after a very heated phone call between the two men occured on November 3rd. O’Banion’s death led to a five year violent all out gang war in Chicago that’s high point was the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre that occured in 1929. The precident and ground work that O’Banion set up the future of all gangster activity and bootlegging in Chicago. He was also the spark that lit the Chicago gangster scene of the 1920s.

Something that O’Banion is also credited for is the intorduction of the Tommy Gun into Chicago. During the summer of 1924, O’Banion and his wife were taking a trip to Colorado where they stayed on a dude ranch for an extended period of time. Upon thier trip back to Chicago, O’Banion purchsed a large amount of fire arms in Denver to bring back. Among the weapons purchsed was the Thompson Submachine Gun, known for being very small in size the guns were originally used by farmers to deal with preditors and rodents in their crop fields. O’Banion was killed before he ever got the chance to try of the guns out, but one of the northside gang members is credited with being the first to use the submachine gun in Chicago during an assination attempt in September 1925.

Bibliography

“Dean O’Banion.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia foundation, April, 21,2023. https://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_O%27Banion

“Dean O’Banion.” The Mob Museum, November 10, 2018. https://themobmuseum.org/notable_names/dean-obanion/