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Al Capone — Part 35
Page 15
15 / 64
SLAIN BY GANG:
MOTIVE SOUGHT
Trio Mows Down Al Capone’s
Machine Gunman in Bowling
Alley; Alcohel War Is Seen
CHICAGO, Feb. 13 {U.8.).
Chicago’s gangland peace came
to a bloody end today with
assassination of “Machine Gun” |:
-|Jack McGurn, expert execu- |.
'|tioner for Al Capone and chief |_~
; suspect in the Valentine Day gE
‘|massacre of seven mobsters
1; Just seven years ago, ‘
The slim 38-year-old gangster,
whose educated trigger finger was
reputed to have sent a dozen
7
ri
—.
men to death in prohibition days,
. ,was shot down a few minutes
after midnight in a bowling alley.
_ Tries To Flee
| Three men marched into the
) } Place with drawn guns, announced
‘ "This is a stickup,” and then
ca fired an accurate stream of Jead
. into McGurn’s head as he tried
to flee,
Two “pals’ who had accom-
panied McGurn to the alley and
who scribbled their names with
his on a score sheet for their
quiet little game, vanished even
as the gunman gasped his last
on the smooth boards. They took
the score sheet with them,
Indicted in Massacre
It was a “perfect fob" of gang: |
land execution and left police
with an endless number of
theories—and a few witnesses who |
“dot know" anything abnut it.
McGurn Was indicted for the
aw
wholesale glaughter of seven
Ne ran in a garage on St.
Valentine's Day, 1929, the crime
which shocked @# nation already
familiar with scores of single,
double and triple slayings.
Seven men were lined up
against a wall and shot down
chine gunner, - #
But McGurn had an ailtbi,
furnished by Bis attractive blonde
je a particuiarty accurate me
+ “Moll,” Louise Rolfe, now Mrs.
Louise Gebardi—McGum was also
| called Vincent Gebardi—who testl-
. the
fied to the satisfaction of the law
that her husband was with her in
ip hotel at the time of the massa-
cre. .
And today, as the blonde widow
sobbed over “poor Jack” as he lay
on a morgue slab, police declared
his shooting was not in vengeance
for the shocking crime of 1929.
in Power Again
Capt. Richard Barry explained:
“Gangs don't shoot to avenge
aomething that happened years
ago. They put men out of the
way for what they are doing
now,”
Chief of Detectives John L,
Sullivan, declaring he was certain
three gunmen were ‘“im-
s ported” for the assassination,
i gave as his theory that McGurn
was slain in the opening stage of
a new alcohol war between Chi-
cago and Milwaukee gangsters:
He said:
“Gangsters who do their kill-
—ing_ that way pin thelr con-
A ge TE
5 grime
icf Chaat.
aden oe FS
29
t
3
a
~ Wy, Ware
Mr. Pow
Mr. Foros .:1'
Mr, Huche.
t Mr, Joser®
wt
! Myr, Beit
"ge, Lesty
fidence to the thong’ that
witnesses will either forge
wuntarily or can be ‘taught’ to).
forget. That is why such kill
ers use no masks and are not
afraid of light. eons
McGurn Was “Broke”
“Here's the stuation—Me-
Gurn bad been practically broke.
There is reason te beHeve he had
even been compelled to sell his
wife's jeweiry and his:ovn. He
had been trying to get along on
a petty gambling racket—book-
making. And so he tried to resur-
rest the bigger racket of his for-
mer boss, Capone. .
“He undertook to muscle in on |:
the Milwaukee boys, and there ||
were three kiliings, Frank Stypn- |'
lowski was shot November 14, Jos- \
eph Scaffido, of Milwaukee, and
Angelo Kleronomos, of Cicero,
were shot a day tater in front.
I believe that a connection will
be found between these killings
and McGurn’s.
“We know that McGurn had
been making desperate efforts to
raise money—and his enemies
knew that when he was desper-
ate he was dangerous. They put
him on the spot. The trouble was
that MeGurn outlived the easy
days of his racket,”
Inguest Postponed
Pe a Oe
Bee et em et
om
An inquest, formal investigation | ;
of McGurn's slaying, was con-
tinued until March ¢ to allow ';
police to probe less formally into }r
the murder.
a SE ere Ry
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