Here we have a photo like many others that we often see around the internet. A sepia-toned image from years gone by, of a moment captured and frozen forever, at first glance a family gathering on a surprisingly warm day that has forced some of the men to loosen their ties and take off their jackets. Sometimes, however, looks can be deceiving. Sometimes you come across a unique if not exactly rare photo like this, one that doesn’t just take you back in time but actually creates a new perspective on the past. Here we have an image from the Roaring Twenties of some of the men who came to define that era as definitively as Westbrook Pegler or F. Scott Fitzgerald ever did. Pegler and Fitzgerald’s work was characterized by the staccato bursts of a typewriter. The fellows in the photo had their work punctuated by the staccato bursts of a Thompson. As a matter of fact, one of the fellows posing here was later found to have in his possession two of the machine guns that were used to spit out a message for Bugs Moran on behalf of the Big Shot. Yes, Capone could be a killer but you wouldn’t know it from this image. Here, he reclines at center, the place of honor, surrounded by his confederates from the Windy City and their close associates from the Chicago Heights neighborhood. As you can see from the photo, some of the boys aren’t too happy about having their photo taken, even in such a pleasant setting, but Al wants his picture taken so what are you going to do?
Years ago, John Binder, a true historian of Chicago Gangland, was kind enough to open his archives to me when I was working on The Best Dressed Man In The Room. If there’s anyone who knows more about Chicago and the men who operated on the other side of the tracks, I haven’t met them. There might be such a person - maybe Matt Luzi - I just haven’t met them! The two of them have spent years working to identify the men in this photo conclusively, as well as the possible reasons for their meeting. It’s a wonderful piece and thoroughly researched - read it here:
http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id193.htm
