From the Archives - February 2014

Charles Dean, aka "Dion" O'Banion

Charles Dean O'Banion, known by his associates as "Dean" and as "Dion" by the media, is widely credited as having started Chicago's North Side Gang, who were the chief rivals of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during Prohibition.  O'Banion was born to an Irish-Catholic family in Maroa, IL in 1892.  After his mother died of tuberculosis in 1901, his father moved him north towards Chicago.  They settled in modern day Goose Island, which at the time was known by its several native Irish residents as "Kilgubbin", named after a town where many had immigrated from.  The area was also informally regarded as "Little Hell" because of the notoriously substantial amount of criminal activity that permeated throughout.  O'Banion assimilated into his environment when he and his fellow cohorts Earl "Hymie" Weiss, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci, and George "Bugs" Moran all joined the Market Street Gang.  They specialized in robbery for the black market, enforcers/intimidators for the Chicago Tribune during the Circulation Wars, safecracking and voter coercion, to name a few.  O'Banion, like much of Chicago's underworld, partook in bootlegging at the start of Prohibition in 1920.  After having established a relationship with Canadian whiskey and gin suppliers, he marked his territory on Chicago's North Side, including Chicago's lucrative Gold Coast neighborhood, while the Chicago Outfit controlled most of Chicago's South Side.  He married Viola Kaniff in 1921 and soon after bought into a partnership in Schofield's Flower Shop after having been introduced to William Schofield through a mutual friend, WWI hero and North Side gangster, Samuel "Nails" Morton.  The shop was located in River North across from Holy Name Cathedral, location for several funeral for gangsters, and also served as headquarters for the North Side Gang.  O'Banion eventually grew frustrated with the arrangement he had with the Outfit and slowly began encroaching on their territory, including a lucrative part of Cicero.  O'Banion also grew frustrated with the Genna Brothers who operated in Little Italy and, in turn, began encroaching on his North Side territory.  After Torrio's inaction for both sides, the Gennas, being native Sicilians, appealed to Unione Siciliana to kill O'Banion, but the president of the fraternal organization denied their request.  O'Banion also tried framing both Torrio and Capone after having allegedly killed John Duffy, a North Side gunman.  Both were last seen outside of the Four Deuces, a club owned by both Torrio and Capone.  O'Banion aggravated his relationship with Torrio further after he double-crossed Torrio by selling him his share in the Sieben Brewery.  O'Banion had learned that the brewery would be raided by police, and although he was also arrested when they eventually did, he got off much easier than Torrio and much of the Outfit after having relinquished himself of any ownership of the brewery.  O'Banion's fatal mistake came when he called the Genna brothers and demanded that they pay a debt that they owed to him and Torrio after Torrio was willing to overlook it.  Insulted and no longer having to appeal to the recently deceased president of Unione Siciliana, the Gennas through the Outfit solicited the talents of Brooklyn gangster Frankie Yale, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi.  All three fatally shot O'Banion to death in his flower shop on November 10, 1924.  His killing sparked the beginning of the Beer Wars between the North and South Side gangs that lasted through the end of Prohibition.         

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