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... Brewery. Knowing full well that there was going to be a raid, O'Banion arranged to close the deal with Torrio at the brewery. Not only did Torrio end up in jail, but O'Banion refused to return the money for a now padlocked brewery. Even worse, he bragged about how he had tricked Torrio.
His fate was sealed. Dion's flower shop Mike Merlo, the head of the Unione Sicilana in Chicago, a group that provided national cover to gangsters of that era, died of cancer. A huge funeral was planned in which Dion, florist to the gangs, naturally had a large role. Frankie Yale, head of the powerful New York branch, agreed with Torrio and Capone that Angelo Genna, who Dion had just humiliated over a gambling IOU, would take over the Chicago branch. 2 days after Merlo's death on November 10, 1924, Dion was in his flower shop fixing flowers for the Merlo funeral when 3 gangsters came into the shop. Dion's employee left the men alone to their business. O'Banion had expected the visit to pick up a wreath.
He greeted the men and prepared to shake hands. One of the men pulled O'Banion's arm and knocked him off balance. Mike Genna, victim Dion's employee heard six gun shots and ran to help his boss who was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. The three men had vanished. It seems certain that two of the men were the vicious Silician assassins John Scale and Albert Anselmi. There is some confusion as to whether the third man was Frankie Yale, who was in town for Merlo's funeral, or Mike Genna.
None of the likely murderers ever came to trial. Dion's funeral was stupendous. The Chicago Tribune loved every gaudy detail of it: "At the corners of the casket are solid silver posts, carved in wonderful designs. Modest is the dignified silver gray of the casket, content with the austere glory of the carved silver post at its corners...
Silver angels stood at the head and feet with their heads bowed in the light of the ten candles that burned in the solid golden candlesticks they held in their hands... And over it all the perfume of flowers. Dion's lavish funeral But vying with that perfume was the fragrance of the perfumed women, wrapped in furs from ears to ankles, who tiptoed down the aisle, escorted by soft stepping, tailored gentlemen with black, shining pompadours. " Some 10, 000 people fell in before and after the funeral cortege, while another 5, 000 people waited at the cemetery. Twenty-six cars and trucks carried the funeral flowers, three bands and the police escort. Dion's funeral was a celebration for Torrio and Capone because they took over Dion's excellent bootlegging territory and they had finally rid themselves of a dangerously unpredictable colleague. What they didn't appreciate at the time was the aftermath of Dion's death and what it meant to them personally.
While the police scratched their heads over who killed O'Banion, Dion's friend "Hymie" Weiss knew exactly who was responsible and he vowed revenge. Hymie Weiss (Corbis) From that moment on, Capone and Torrio looked over their shoulders constantly for "Hymie" Weiss and another Dion associate, Bugs Moran. "Hymie" Weiss's real name was Earl Wajciechowski, which he shortened to Weiss. The nickname "Hymie" stuck somehow and everyone assumed he was a Jewish gangster, when he was in fact a very devout Catholic. George Moran was a violent and unstable man who got the nickname "Bugs" because everyone thought he was nuts or "buggy." Torrio was so concerned for his life that he decided to leave Chicago for awhile and went to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Capone was just as worried and took every possible security measure. Still, over the next 2 years, the former colleagues of Dion O'Banion would make a dozen attempts to assassinate Capone.
Bugs Moran (Associated Press) Ber green details the profound effect that the threats had on the way Capone did his business. "Although he himself was unarmed as a mark of his status, he never went anywhere without at least two bodyguards, one on either side. With the exception of his home on South Prairie Avenue, he was never alone. He traveled only by car, sandwiched between bodyguards, with a trusted, armed chauffeur named Sylvester Barton... he preferred to travel under cover of night, risking travel by day only when absolutely necessary. " In January of 1925, twelve days after the Weiss-Moran gang tried to assassinate Capone, Johnny Torrio came back to Chicago. He and his wife Ann were just returned from a shopping trip and got out of their car to walk to the door of their apartment building. Torrio walked behind her carrying packages.
Weiss and Bugs Moran jumped out of a car and, thinking that Torrio was still in his automobile, fired wildly, wounding the chauffeur. When they finally saw Torrio, they shot him in the chest and neck, then his right arm and his groin. Moran held a gun to Torrio's temple and pulled the trigger, but the firing chamber was empty and poor Johnny Torrio, the peacemaker, heard only a faint click. At the hospital, Capone took over while surgeons removed the bullets in Torrio's raw body.
The hospital was a dangerous place for a gangster. The security was rotten, so Capone arranged for Torrio's security on his own, which included Al sleeping in his room on a cot making sure that his beloved mentor was safe. Torrio, center, after murder attempt (Associated Press) Four weeks later, Torrio shocked everyone by appearing in court to face the charges on the Seen Brewery raid. The frail, shaken man pleaded guilty and was given a sentence of nine months. Things could have been much worse. He became close friends with the sheriff, who made sure that there were no more assassination attempts while he was in jail, and was treated like a privileged gentleman.
But things would never be the same for Torrio. He wanted out of this life of violence. He wanted to retire and live quietly on his substantial earnings. He called Al to the jail in Waukegan in March of 1925 and told him that he was retiring from the Chicago rackets and going to live abroad.
Torrio was turning over his vast assets to Al and the rest of the Capone brothers. It was an amazing legacy: nightclubs, whorehouses, gambling joints, breweries and speakeasies. Capone's power increased immensely.
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