Timothy D. "Big Tim" Murphy (1885 – June 26, 1928) was a

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mobster and labor racketeer who controlled several major railroad, laundry and dye workers' unions during the 1910s and early 1920s.

Life

Born in 1885, Murphy rose to prominence at the beginning of the 20th century in the bookmaking racket with then-partner Mont Tennes. In the 1910s, he established an

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gang which became one of Chicago's most powerful early organized crime organizations. Murphy's gang was one of the few respected by

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 ...

and the

Italian American 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, ...

-led Chicago Outfit.Curt Johnson and R. Craig Sautter, ''The Wicked City: Chicago from Kenna to Capone,'' paperback ed., Da Capo Press, 1998. A longtime rival of Maurice "Mossy" Enright, Murphy was suspected in his February 1920 gangland slaying. Murphy was released due to lack of evidence.Jay Robert Nash, ''World Encyclopedia of Organized Crime,'' Da Capo Press, 1993. Murphy was involved in a wide array of crimes and arrested and/or indicted numerous times. In February 1921, Murphy was charged with involvement in organizing the theft of $400,000 () from a Pullman mail train at Chicago's Union Station in August 1920. Although he was released on a $30,000 bond, Murphy was eventually convicted and sentenced by Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis to seven years imprisonment. On May 6, 1922, Murphy,

Cornelius Shea Cornelius P. Shea (September 7, 1872 – January 12, 1929) was an American labor leader and organized crime figure. He was the founding president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, holding the position from 1903 until 1907. He becam ...

, and six other labor leaders were arrested and charged with the murder of a Chicago police officer. On May 24, the state asked for

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and the court agreed to withdraw the indictments. A new indictment was returned against Murphy and the others in August, but this second indictment was withdrawn by the state as well.

Death

"Big Tim" Murphy was shot and killed as he answered the front door of his home on the night of June 26, 1928. His murder was never solved, but he may have been gunned down by former associates of Enright's. Others suggest he was killed by Murray "The Camel" Humphreys, a former

hitman 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 later a lieutenant for the Chicago Outfit. Murphy's widow, Margaret (called by the nickname "Flo"), later married mobster John "Dingbat" O'Berta, a Murphy protégé.Fred D. Pasley, ''Al Capone: The Biography of a Self-Made Man,'' Garden City Publishing Co., 2004.

Life

Death

References

Further reading