Frank Gusenberg (October 11, 1893 – February 14, 1929) was an American
contract killer
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
and a victim of the
Saint Valentine's Day massacre in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
.
Early life
Born in
Lakeview, Chicago
Lakeview, also spelled Lake View, is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois. Lakeview is located in the city's North Side. It is bordered by West Diversey Parkway on the south, West Irving Park Road on the north, North Ravenswood A ...
, Gusenberg was the second oldest of three sons and one sister born to Peter Gusenberg Sr. Peter Sr. was a first generation emigrant from
Gusenburg
Gusenburg is a municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe afte ...
, a municipality in today's
Trier-Saarburg
Trier-Saarburg (; lb, Landkrees Tréier-Saarburg ) is a district in the west of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north and clockwise) Bitburg-Prüm, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Birkenfeld, Sankt Wendel (Saarland), and ...
district, in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
The Gusenbergs lived at 434 Roscoe Street in Lakeview. In 1901, when Gusenberg was eight years old, his elder brother,
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
, found their mother dead in the kitchen of their home. After their mother's death, the boys were raised by their father who was largely absent due to work.
With little parental supervision, Gusenberg and his elder brother Peter began committing petty crimes with
Bugs Moran
George Clarence "Bugs" Moran (; Adelard Leo Cunin; August 21, 1893 – February 25, 1957) was an American Chicago Prohibition-era gangster. He was incarcerated three times before his 21st birthday. Seven members of his gang were gunned dow ...
. Gusenberg was first arrested for disorderly conduct in 1909. In 1911, he was convicted of disorderly conduct and sent to the notorious Bridewell Prison in
South Lawndale, Chicago
South Lawndale is a community area on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. Over 80% of the residents are of Mexican descent and the community is home to the largest foreign-born Mexican population in Chicago.
Neighborhoods
Little Village ...
. After his release, the Gusenberg brothers and Moran began committing more serious crimes. Between 1909 and 1914, Gusenberg was a suspect in numerous armed robberies and burglaries in the Chicago area.
The Gusenberg brothers and Bugs Moran then joined
Dean 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 ...
's
North Side Gang
The North Side Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was an Irish-Polish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s. It was the principal rival of the South Side Gang, als ...
. They became two of the gang's chief hitmen. After O'Banion was murdered in November 1924, most likely by rival members of the
Johnny Torrio
John Donato Torrio (born Donato Torrio, ; January 20, 1882 – April 16, 1957) was an Italian born-American mobster who helped build the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s later inherited by his protégé Al Capone. Torrio proposed a National Crime Sy ...
-
Al Capone organization, the Gusenberg brothers joined
Hymie Weiss
Earl J. "Hymie" Weiss (born Henryk Wojciechowski; January 25, 1898 – October 11, 1926), was a Polish-American mob boss who became a leader of the Prohibition-era North Side Gang and a bitter rival of Al Capone. He was known as "the only ma ...
in getting revenge on the Capone-Torrio Gang. In 1926, Gusenberg was brought up on burglary charges by the state prosecuting attorney's office. For unknown reasons, the charges were never filed.
Gusenberg was a
bigamist
In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...
. He was married to two women simultaneously, Lucille and Ruth, both of whom were unaware of the other.
The Gusenberg Brothers and the Chicago gang wars
Frank Gusenberg participated in the gargantuan
drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...
in the North Side performed on Capone's headquarters, the Hawthorne Hotel in
Cicero, Illinois
Cicero (originally known as Hawthorne) is a suburb of Chicago and an incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 85,268. making it the 11th largest municipality in Illinois. The town of Cic ...
, riddling it with thousands of bullets on September 20, 1926. According to many accounts, the second to last car stopped in front of the hotel restaurant where Capone was cowering and Gusenberg's brother, Pete, emerged, clad in a khaki Army shirt, brown overalls, and carrying a
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun, invented by United Sta ...
fitted with a 100-round capacity drum. Kneeling in front of the doorway, Gusenberg emptied the entire drum into the restaurant, and then casually strolled back to his car, which then sped off to safety.
The attack worked. Capone was very shaken and requested a sitdown between the two gangs. However, it failed. Hymie Weiss was murdered three weeks later, and over the next couple of years, the
North Side Gang
The North Side Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was an Irish-Polish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s. It was the principal rival of the South Side Gang, als ...
continued to weaken.
The North Siders especially wished to kill
Jack McGurn
Jack "Machine Gun Jack" McGurn (born Vincenzo Antonio Gibaldi; ; July 2, 1902 – February 15, 1936) was a Sicilian-American boxer, mobster, and eventually a made man and caporegime in Al Capone's Chicago Outfit.
Early life
McGurn was born ...
, as he was rumored to have been the machine-gunner who killed Weiss. On at least two occasions, the Gusenberg brothers made attempts on his life. Despite receiving several wounds, McGurn survived these attempts. Al Capone had Pasquale "Patsy" Lolordo installed as head of the influential fraternal organization Unione Siciliane.
By late 1928, the leader of the North Side Gang,
Bugs Moran
George Clarence "Bugs" Moran (; Adelard Leo Cunin; August 21, 1893 – February 25, 1957) was an American Chicago Prohibition-era gangster. He was incarcerated three times before his 21st birthday. Seven members of his gang were gunned dow ...
, struck an alliance with Al Capone's rival
Joe Aiello. The latter, assisted by the Gusenberg brothers, killed
Antonio Lombardo
Antonio "Tony the Scourge" Lombardo (; November 23, 1891 – September 7, 1928) was an Italian-born American mobster. He was ''consigliere'' to Al Capone, and later the President of the Unione Siciliana.
Biography
Born in the town of Gala ...
and
Pasqualino Lolordo Pasquale Lolordo (1887 – January 8, 1929), also known as Pasqualino or "Patsy", was an Italian-born American Mafia boss from Ribera, Sicily, and head of the Chicago chapter of the Unione Siciliana, a "front" organization for the Mafia. Lolord ...
, presidents of the
Unione Siciliane. It was as a result of these murders that Capone plotted to eliminate Bugs Moran.
Death
On February 14, 1929, members of the North Side gang gathered at a garage behind the offices of S.M.C. Cartage Company. Inside were Pete and Frank Gusenberg, Albert Weinshank, Adam Heyer, James Clark, John May, and Reinhardt Schwimmer (the last two men, May and Schwimmer, were not actually gang members). Five men, possibly members of Capone's Gang, possibly outside "hired guns," most likely a combination of the two, drove to the garage in a stolen police car. Two of the men, dressed as police, entered the garage, pretending they were conducting an ordinary raid, and lined Moran's associates up against the wall. Once the men's backs were all turned, facing the wall, two other men (with civilian clothes) entered the room with machine guns and, along with the "police," opened fire on the seven men, firing seventy bullets into them in what became known as the
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang that occurred on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park, Chicago garage on the morning of February 1 ...
.
![Graves of Frank (1893–1929) and Peter (1888–1939) Gusenberg at Irving Park Cemetery](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Graves_of_Frank_%281893%E2%80%931929%29_and_Peter_%281888%E2%80%931939%29_Gusenberg_at_Irving_Park_Cemetery.jpg)
When police arrived at the scene, Gusenberg was the only victim still alive despite having been shot fourteen times (reports erroneously list twenty-two times).
Among the police was Sergeant Clarence Sweeny who had grown up in the same neighborhood as the Gusenberg brothers and immediately recognized Frank.
Sweeny asked Gusenberg, "Who shot you?" Gusenberg, observing the gangland principle of "
omertà
Omertà (, ) is a Southern Italian code of silence and code of honor and conduct that places importance on silence in the face of questioning by authorities or outsiders; non-cooperation with authorities, the government, or outsiders, especiall ...
" (absolute silence) replied, "No one....nobody shot me."
Gusenberg was then taken to
Alexian Brothers Hospital where he was once again asked by Sweeny who shot him. He again refused to answer. Gusenberg's last words reportedly were, "I ain't no copper."
Gusenberg died of his wounds three hours after being shot.
The Gusenberg brothers were initially buried in
Rosehill Cemetery
Rosehill Cemetery (founded 1859) is an American garden cemetery on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, and at , is the largest cemetery in the City of Chicago. According to legend, the name "Rosehill" resulted from a City Clerk's error – the a ...
in Chicago's North Side. They were later reinterred at
Irving Park Cemetery.
In popular culture
Frank Gusenberg has been portrayed three times in film:
* by
David Canary
David Hoyt Canary (August 25, 1938 – November 16, 2015) was an American actor. Canary is best known for his role as ranch foreman Candy Canaday in the NBC Western drama ''Bonanza'', and as Adam Chandler in the television soap opera ''All My ...
in the 1967 film, ''
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre''
* by Ben Marino in the 1975 film, ''
Capone''.
* by Danny Hansen in the 2017 film ''
Gangster Land
''Gangster Land'' (also titled ''In the Absence of Good Men'') is a 2017 American action crime drama film directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. and starring Sean Faris, Milo Gibson, Jason Patric, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Peter Facinelli.
Plot
The film t ...
''.
References
External links
Frank Gusenberga
lacndbFrank Gusenbergat
FamilySearch
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and is closely connected with the church's Family Hist ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gusenberg, Frank
1893 births
1929 deaths
Gusenberg, Peter
Criminals from Chicago
Deaths by firearm in Illinois
Gangsters from Chicago
Gusenberg, Peter
North Side Gang
People murdered by the Chicago Outfit
People murdered in Illinois
Male murder victims
Prohibition-era gangsters