21. From Celebrity Feud to Serious Beef
The previous beefs, while fascinating, were nonetheless between celebrities and relatively harmless – sissy spats, if you would. Although with Rick James – he once used a crack pipe as a weapon to assault and kidnap a woman – anything might have happened. Not so this next feud, between Chicago mob boss Al Capone and his most bitter enemies, the North Side Gang, led by Dean O’Banion, Hymie Weiss, and George “Bugs” Moran. It took place against the backdrop of Prohibition, which had fueled organized crime and an escalation in violence between criminals, as they competed for a slice of the increasingly lucrative illegal alcohol.
Polish-born Hymie Weiss (1898 – 1926) grew up in Chicago’s North Side, where he took to a life of crime in his early teens. He eventually teamed up with George “Bugs” Moran and Dean O’Banion to form the North Side Gang, which came to dominate crime in North Chicago during Prohibition. Competition over the illegal alcohol market with the Chicago Outfit, led by Johnny Torrio and his then-rising chief lieutenant Al Capone, turned violent. The result was a bitter feud that lasted for years, claimed multiple lives, and led to America’s most notorious mob massacre.
