James "Revolvers" McLain (1903 – September 23, 1934) was a member of

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 ...

's crew, in 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, ...

, and believed to be involved in the 1929

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 ...

Early life

He was born Antonio Trangorello in

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an imp ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. His family emigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

three years later, arriving at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

on July 18, 1906. He later moved to

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

with his family and girlfriend. One time he and a few of his friends were in a movie theater, when local

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

police raided it. He changed his name to James McLain to avoid being beaten up.

Prohibition-era

McLain took a run-in with a few Purple Gang members, They were fighting with him telling him that it was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

area. One of them pulled a gun and shot at him. Both of them missed, but hit and killed his girlfriend. McLain got back at the Purple Gang with the help of Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn. He started work in McGurn's

speakeasy A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States ...

, the Green Mill, as a bartender. He later became involved with McGurn's crew inside the

which at the time was run by

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 ...

and Al Capone. McLain helped McGurn kill

Frankie Yale Francesco Ioele (; January 22, 1893 – July 1, 1928), known as Frankie Yale or Frankie Uale, was an Italian-American gangster based in Brooklyn and second employer of Al Capone. Early life Yale was born in Longobucco, Italy, on January 22, ...

in 1928.

St. Valentine's Day Massacre

James suspectedly helped plan the

in 1929, which was meant to bring the war of 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 ...

to an end by killing George Moran. Six members of the North Side Gang were killed, but Moran survived. He was not suspected for the killings because a local flower shop owner claimed he was with McLain at the time.

Later years

On August 25, 1933, the

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

golf championship began at

Olympia Fields Country Club Olympia Fields Country Club is a private golf club in the central United States, located in Olympia Fields, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, about south of The Loop. It contains two eighteen-hole courses, North and South. The North Course is co ...

in the far south suburb of

Olympia Fields, Illinois Olympia Fields is a village and a south suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,718 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The municipality grew up around the prestigious Ol ...

. McLain entered the competition, using his birth name. When McGurn was arrested, McLain thought it would be a good idea to leave as well, as someone could easily find out who he was. When

Frank Nitti Frank Ralph Nitto (born Francesco Raffaele Nitto, ; January 27, 1886 – March 19, 1943), known as Frank Nitti, was an Italian-American organized crime figure based in Chicago. The first cousin and bodyguard of Al Capone, Nitti was in charge o ...

took control of the

, he didn't think McLain was going to keep his mouth shut about the happenings on St. Valentine's Day. However,

Paul Ricca Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

thought that McLain was a good assassin and gunman, so he kept him on board.

Death

On June 12, 1934 James McLain was gunned down outside his apartment in

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

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 ...

Louis Campagna Louis "Little New York" Campagna (March 31, 1900 – May 31, 1955) was an American gangster and mobster and a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit for over three decades. Early years Campagna was born in Brooklyn to parents from mainland Ital ...

is believed to have fired the machine gun that killed him. {{DEFAULTSORT:McLain, James 1903 births 1934 deaths People from Trapani Al Capone associates Murdered American gangsters of Sicilian descent Chicago Outfit mobsters Prohibition-era gangsters People murdered by the Chicago Outfit People murdered in Illinois Male murder victims Deaths by firearm in Illinois Italian emigrants to the United States