From The Archives - May 2014
Henry Earl J. Wojciechowski, aka "Hymie Weiss"
Henry Earl J. Wojciechowski, better known as Hymie Weiss, was a Polish- American gangster who became the leader of the Prohibition-era North Side Gang and a bitter rival of Al Capone. He was born on January 25,1898 and grew up on the north side of Chicago. At some point, his parents Walently S. Wojciechowski and Mary Bruszkiewics changed their last name to Weiss. Despite his "Jewish-sounding" name, Weiss was Catholic and was known to have often carried a rosary and bible around on his person. During his teenage years, Hymie engaged in petty crimes before ultimately befriending Chicago mobster, Dean O'Banion. After spilling a shelf full of fragrances during a botched burglary, police dubbed Weiss "The Perfume Burglar". O'Banion, with the help of Weiss and George "Bugs" Moran, established the North Side Gang, a criminal organization that eventually controlled bootlegging and other activities in the northern section of Chicago. On November 10, 1924, Weiss received word of O'Banion's murder at the Schofield Flower Shop. Devastated by the news, Weiss took command of the North Side Gang and swore to avenge his friend's death. Allegedly, Weiss and his gunmen were suspected of taking down Sicilian crime boss Angelo Genna on May 26th,1925. The Gennas were longtime enemies of O'Banion and were suspected by Weiss as having orchestrated O'Banion's murder. A couple months after O'Banion's death, Weiss and Moran ambushed John Torrio at his home upon returning from a shopping trip with his wife. After shooting him multiple times, Torrio was able to walk away with injuries to his neck, torso and legs. Immediately after, Torrio assigned Capone as the new leader of the Chicago outfit and a year later he fled to Italy. With Torrio out of the way, Weiss and his men began targeting Capone. They issued a couple of attacks on Capone when he was exiting his vehicle. Having survived these attacks, Capone sought out to only drive in armored vehicles. On September 20, 1926, Capone was having lunch at the Hawthorne Hotel with one of his bodyguards when a series of cars drove past and opened fire using multiple machine guns. While Capone survived the attack, this act scared him enough to attempt a truce. During the peace conference on October 4, 1926, Weiss insisted that the two gunmen in the O'Banion murder (John Scalise and Albert Anselmi) be executed. Capone refused Weiss' terms and an angered Weiss stormed out of the room. On October 11, Weiss and his men were sighted at the jury selection for the Joe Saltis trial. It was suspected that Weiss was having an alliance with Saltis and he was going to buy off the jury to insure Saltis' acquittal. Later that day, Weiss and his men were headed back to their headquarters when two gunmen hidden in a nearby building open fired with a machine gun and a shotgun. Of the five men, Weiss and Paddy Murray were killed and the others were wounded, including Weiss' bodyguard Benny Jacobs and driver Sam Peller. Unfortunately, Weiss' killers were never positively identified. Jurors believe Peller and Jacobs had foreknowledge of the shooting and were therefore responsible of Weiss' murder. They were both charged but later released on $15,000 bonds signed by Mrs. Mary Weiss, Hymie Weiss' mother.