Joseph P. Bergl (1901 – September 1950) was a mechanic who supplied specially designed vehicles for Chicago's underworld, including

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, tha ...

, Depression-era outlaw

George "Machine Gun" Kelly Machine Gun Kelly most often refers to: * Machine Gun Kelly (gangster) (1900–1954), American gangster. * Machine Gun Kelly (musician) (born 1990), American rapper. Machine Gun Kelly may also refer to: * ''Machine-Gun Kelly'' (film), 1958 film a ...

, and members of the

Barker Gang Kate Barker (born Arizona Donnie Clark; October 8, 1873 – January 16, 1935), better known as Ma Barker (and sometimes known as Arizona Barker and Arrie Barker), was the mother of several American criminals who ran the Barker–Karpis Gang ...

. Operating from his garage, Bergl Auto Sales, on 22nd Street, next to Ralph "Bottles" Capone's

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...

, Bergl supplied Capone's organization with custom-made cars for both protection and evasion purposes. This included armor-plated vehicles with bulletproof windows, the ability to create oil slicks and smokescreens, and other devices designed to elude police pursuit. Members of the Barker Gang used such a car when they robbed Federal Reserve Bank messengers at Jackson Boulevard on September 22, 1933. After a patrolman was killed, the gang fled the scene with a load of canceled checks and eventually were forced to abandon their car after crashing it. Upon finding the wrecked car, police traced the vehicle to Bergl's shop and arrested

Gus Winkler Gus Winkler (March 28, 1901 – October 9, 1933) was an American gangster who headed a Prohibition-era criminal gang specializing in armed robbery and murder for hire with Fred "Killer" Burke. Winkler was a senior associate of Chicago Outfit ...

, a member of the Chicago Outfit and Bergl's silent partner, naming the Chicago gangster as a member of a national armed robbery syndicate which supposedly included Depression-era bandits George "Machine Gun" Kelly and

Vernon Miller Vernon C. "Verne" Miller (August 25, 1896 – November 29, 1933) was a freelance Prohibition Gunfighter, gunman, Rum-running, bootlegger, bank robber and former sheriff in Huron, South Dakota, who, as the only identified gunman in the Kansas Cit ...

. Winkler was killed in a gangland slaying by unidentified gunmen on October 9, who reportedly suspected he would

turn state's evidence A criminal turns state's evidence by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s), often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution.Howard Abadinsky, ''Organized C ...

in exchange for a reduction of the long prison sentence he was facing. Although Bergl was allowed to live, the exposure to law enforcement officials ended his usefulness to the crime syndicate, as criminals turned instead to competitor Clarence Lieder.

References

* Newton, Michael. ''Encyclopedia of Robbers, Heists, and Capers''. New York: Facts On File Inc., 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergl, Joe 1950 deaths 1901 births

See also

References