Crimes plague Chicago’s history painting a grim picture of its past. By the late 1840s Chicago was known for its criminal underworld. The Democrat newspaper stated robbers pickpockets and cheaters were at home in the city.
Vice was visible adding to the city’s criminal reputation. Chicago had more gambling places than Philadelphia and more per capita than New York. Vice was along the Chicago River in the Patches district. The Tribune called it a place of beastly sensuality and darkest crimes.
Some believed the Fire of 1871 was punishment for Chicago’s wickedness like Sodom and Gomorrah. A newspaper reported the city was infested with thieves burglars and cut-throats. They would not hesitate to burn pillage and even murder.
The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 highlighted Chicago’s sins. William T. Stead’s If Christ Came to Chicago symbolized modern corruption. Detective Clifton Wooldridge’s Hands Up detailed arrests at the exposition. Herman Mudgett’s horror house with secret passages torture chamber and crematorium shocked the nation. He confessed to killing 27 people. Many were exposition visitors.
Progressive-era muckrakers added to Chicago’s criminal reputation. George Kibbe Turner wrote in McClure’s that Chicago was notorious for violent crime. He linked the crime to widespread official corruption. Assistant Attorney General Clifford G. Roe fought against white slavery. The Social Evil in Chicago vice commission report put the city at the center of a prostitution scandal. The Chicago School of Sociology studied the city’s criminal subculture making it the most studied in the world.
Al Capone looms large in Chicago’s history. Books television series and films like The Roaring Twenties Al Capone Some Like It Hot and The Untouchables reinforce those perceptions. Some Chicagoans resent the city’s criminal image. Others see it as nostalgia a source of civic pride and a reminder of a time when urban disorder seemed more contained.
In 1837 Chicago became a city. By 1850 Chicago’s population was 80000. The city had no police force only nine watch marshals. By 1855 the city had a bare-bones police force. Criminals practiced their trades in rooms and tunnels beneath the city. English immigrant Roger Plant ran a brothel called Under the Willows. He became the chief of this criminal underworld.
Gambler Michael Cassius McDonald became Chicago’s first true crime lord. He formed McDonald’s Democrats and got Carter Harrison IV elected as mayor. McDonald controlled Chicago and Indiana’s bookmaking rights. His gambling joint The Store was Chicago’s unofficial City Hall. McDonald and his men created the term Syndicate.
In 1882 Michael Hinkey Dink Kenna opened a saloon. Chicago Police Chief William McGarigle was indicted for graft and fled to Canada. John Mushmouth Johnson opened the Emporium Saloon and gambling establishment. He became Chicago’s first South Side Policy racket king. Donato Johnny Torrio emigrated from Italy to New York City. He is known as the father of modern gangsterism.
By the 1890s the city police department totalled 1100 officers for a 2.1 million population. The Valley Gang formed in the city. They began with pickpocketing and armed robbery. Future North Side Gang boss George Bugs Moran grew up on Chicago’s North Side. He committed 26 known robberies before age 21. Dion O’Banion was a street tough. It is speculated that O’Banion committed more than 60 murders in his lifetime.
Bathhouse John Coughlin was elected a First Ward alderman. Coughlin and Michael Hinky Dink Kenna Lords of the Levee formed an alliance. They ruled the First Ward. The South Side Levee District opened for business to serve customers who weren’t only in the city for the World’s Columbian Exposition. Future master pimp Giacomo Big Jim Colosimo immigrated to Chicago. The first First Ward Ball was masterminded by Michael Hinkey Dink Kenna and Alderman John Couglin. Unione Siciliane was created in New York City. The Chicago branch was chartered in the mid-1890s.
The city of Chicago a place of both great achievement and deep-seated sin continues to grapple with its complex legacy. The echoes of past crimes resonate reminding us of the ongoing struggle for justice and order in this metropolis. As we stand here at this Kill Site the weight of history surrounds us a stark reminder of the darkness that once gripped this city.