Dion O'Banion
Charles Dean O'Banion (July 8, 1892 – November 10, 1924) was an American mobster who was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s. The newspapers of his day made him better known as Dion O'Banion, although he never went by that first name. He led the North Side Gang until 1924, when he was shot and killed, reportedly by Frankie Yale, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi. Early life O'Banion was born to Irish Catholic parents in the small town of Maroa in Central Illinois. The O'Banion family moved to Aurora, Illinois, when Dean was a small child. In 1901, after his mother's death, he moved to Chicago with his father and older brother (a sister, Ruth, remained in Maroa). The family settled in Kilgubbin, otherwise known as, "Little Hell," a heavily Irish area on the North Side of Chicago that was notorious citywide for its crime. As a youngster, "Deanie," as he became known, sang in the church choir at Chicago's Ho ...
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Maroa, Illinois
Maroa is a city in Macon County, Illinois, Macon County, Illinois, United States. Its population was 1,577 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 1,801 in 2010 United States census, 2010. It is included in the Decatur, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The city was named after the Illinois Confederation, Maroa people. The first settler of the township was James Pettyjohn, who came from Kentucky and settled in 1839. The next group of settlers came from Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee. The first schoolhouse was built in 1852. Maroa at one time was the second largest township, besides county seat Decatur, as it sat at the junction of both the Illinois Central Railroad and the Midland Railroad Company. Maroa was officially incorporated as a town on March 7, 1867. Geography Maroa is located in northern Macon County at (40.036951, -88.954967). Its northern boundary is the DeWitt County, Illinois, DeWitt County line. U.S. Route 51 passes through the west si ...
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