Shotgun Man, an urban legend, is an alleged assassin and spree killer in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in the 1910s, to whom murders by

Black Hand Black Hand or The Black Hand may refer to: Extortionists and underground groups * Black Hand (anarchism) (''La Mano Negra''), a presumed secret, anarchist organization based in the Andalusian region of Spain during the early 1880s * Black Hand (e ...

extortionists were attributed. Most notably, Shotgun Man killed 15

Italian immigrants The Italian diaspora is the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy. There were two major Italian diasporas in Italian history. The first diaspora began around 1880, two decades after the Risorgimento, Unification of Italy, and ended in the ...

from January 1, 1910, to March 26, 1911, at " Death Corner," a notoriously violent Italian immigrant neighborhood at the intersection of Oak Street and Milton Avenue (now Cleveland Avenue) in what was then Chicago's Little Sicily. The area was notorious for violence committed by Italian immigrants and

Italian-Americans Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

, both independently and as a result of Italian

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

s, the

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

, and Black Hand feuding and

vendetta Vendetta may refer to: * Feud or vendetta, a long-running argument or fight Film * ''Vendetta'' (1919 film), a film featuring Harry Liedtke * ''Vendetta'' (1950 film), an American drama produced by Howard Hughes * ''Vendetta'' (1986 film), a ...

s. In March 1911, the so-called Shotgun Man reportedly murdered four people within 72 hours.

Background

Although the killings were witnessed by dozens of bystanders, the Chicago police were never able to identify the murderer. However, he was said to be well known throughout the Italian community and, with the political influence of the Black Hand, residents may have been hesitant to turn in the assassin. Although the fate of Shotgun Man is unknown, he seems to have disappeared from Little Italy shortly before

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

, as extortion operations of the Black Hand had faded away by the end of the decade.

References

1910 in Illinois 1910 murders in the United States 1911 in Illinois 1911 murders in the United States American Mafia American spree killers Crimes in Chicago Mafia hitmen Mass murder in 1910 Mass murder in 1911 Murder in Illinois Criminals from Chicago Unidentified American criminals Unidentified American serial killers Unsolved murders in the United States Year of birth unknown {{crime-stub

Background

See also

References